Cambridge City Council voted to stop buying poultry products which fail to meet RSPCA Freedom Food standards by December and to contact contractors providing food on its premises and at events, telling them about the policy and urging them to do the same.

Stallholders at the folk festival will be among those asked to comply.

There was wide support for the move, brought forward by Councillor Lewis Herbert, Labour group leader, following a high-profile campaign on chicken welfare by celebrity chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver.

Cllr Herbert, Coleridge, said: "We wouldn't treat humans like this. We believe humans have a right to happiness and chickens have a right to happiness too."